Time Lapse Lifetime
by Billy Tom Plummer Ledger
Summary: My own alternate Blue Bloods universe that kind of cuts off in the beginning of Revelations, but this starts off six years after wards with Schuyler raising her six year old daughter, Bella, and titled after the Maria Taylor song
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, so sue me for going to my own leagues of the Blue Blood universe, see, my fanfic kind of cuts off at the beginning of Revelations, when Schuyler (in my own universe where everyone knows me very well) finds out she is pregnant with Jack's child, and then she supposedly kills Bliss and runs away from home, thinking she'll die for killing a Blue Blood.**

It was late in the afternoon, her daughter was already home, working in her bedroom, probably on homework or a new collage for her wall. She walked in, her leather jacket hanging over her arm as she entered in a hoodie and simple black pants. Sighing, she placed her jacket on an end table that was just in the middle of the narrow hallway against a wall before turning to her right and walking into her kitchen. On routine, she hit the button on her phone that played all her messages from the day. She had only one.

"_Hey Schuyler," _and her body froze as she stood over the sink. _"It's Jack, as you've probably already figured out. Look, I know I messed up hiring that private eye, but you know… I just miss you and I want you back. Sky, Bliss isn't dead, you didn't kill her that night six years ago, and you killed… the silver blood. Yeah, I know crazy, right? But it's true, and we all want you back. We all miss you, Lawrence and Allegra, you heard about her coming out of the coma right? I guess that's why you chose Boston, so you could stay close in case anything happened… Sky, I still love you and I know you still love me, at least, my ideal id does. See, the thing is, a lot has happened since you left – yes, Mimi and I had the bond, but she broke it to be with Kingsley, and I won't kill her. I don't blame her, and now… I just want to be with you."_

_Holy shit _was the first words that entered Sky's mind.

Sitting on her bed, her legs bended just a little bit as they lay sprawled on top of her covers, Schuyler keeps on thinking about that phone call. What has happened? The last thing she knew was that she was a single, teenage mother of a beautiful little girl and then… Flashbacks of her last memories in Manhattan come spurring into her mind.

"_Schuyler, I need to talk to you," was what Bliss told her over the phone and she took the quickest bus she knew to get to the museum that Bliss wanted to meet her at. Schuyler sat there for a while, in her dark green gypsy skirt and a long sleeved black shirt with a silk green tank top over it that matched the skirt. She wore a deep, dark blue military jacket over it all that was still unbuttoned. When she saw Bliss coming, she stood up on her feet and a smile took over her face._

"_Hey! I'm so glad to see you," she breathed out loud as she took Bliss into her arms and hugged her close. _

"_Yeah, me too," Bliss said, with worrisome in her eyes, "look," she told Sky as she took hold of her hand. "We need to be alone, where no one can find us," and Bliss started to lead Sky into an abandoned part of the museum that still had construction going on. Sighing, Bliss started to speak again after such a silence. "I love this place; the Met is my favorite place in the entire world."_

"_Yeah, mine too," Schuyler told her, and then she placed a hand on her stomach. "Bliss, I'm glad you –"_

"_I needed to call you," Bliss said as she cut off Schuyler, sighing she continue on with her explanation. "When Dylan came back, he told me who the Silver Blood was," she said and then turned around to look Schuyler in the eye. Her dark green eyes glaring into Schuyler's. _

"_Bliss…" Schuyler started to say as she stepped backwards but Bliss was behind her in a flash, and threw her across the room. _

"_I'm not Bliss anymore," the Silver Blood had spoken, with guilty blood coming out of the edges of her mouth. Bliss's mouth, but no… she wasn't Bliss? Schuyler couldn't – didn't understand. Terrified, Schuyler reached for the closest thing to her and raised into the air to defend herself as Bliss – Silver Blood – Daughter of Lucifer – who ever the hell she was, lurched over her and avoided the sword and somersaulted on the floor. _

"_Knew all cheerleaders were evil," Schuyler muttered as Bliss lunged towards her again, Schuyler used the stick and slapped it across Bliss's face, leaving her best friend lying on the floor, unconscious. Sick to her stomach and still confused, Schuyler took the sword in her hand and poked Bliss with it. She turned her over so she could see her face, and Bliss's eyes slowly opened up. _

_Growling as her lips moved, Bliss's body started to relax._

_And then tightened._

"_Schuyler…" Bliss whined, but the sword in Schuyler's hand started to brighten in her hands, blinding her with light, forcing Bliss to close her eyes. Schuyler's grip on the sword tightened as she realized the truth – this was Gabrielle's sword, and it could kill Blue Bloods, just like the legends told and spoke of. Bliss started to moan and then she turned on her side, as if she was waking up in the morning for school. Then something started to change, and Bliss started to shake a little bit, right before she grabbed at Schuyler's ankle, bringing them both to the ground and Gabrielle's sword a few feet away. _

"_You little half breed," the Silver Blood growled with Bliss's mouth as the Silver Blood crawled on top of Schuyler. _

"_As if," Schuyler grunted as she kicked the Silver Blood in the crotch and rolled to the side as she crouched down before leaping towards the sword. The Silver Blood was in the air as Schuyler punctured her in the chest, causing them both to fall back, Schuyler lying next to the person who was her best friend and worst enemy. It sounded exactly like Bliss, with Texan accent and all. _

_Crying now, Schuyler sat up and saw the Silver Blood in pain, but not dead, and gulping down some of her fears, Schuyler stood up, hovering over Bliss as she withered in pain. Schuyler took the sword in her hands and started to drown in her own tears. _

"_I'm sorry," she apologized as she started to shake. She gripped the sword tightly in the palms of her hands as she pushed it down further into her best friend's chest._


	2. Chapter 2

Drowsy in the early morning, Schuyler woke up from bed, didn't move for a while but just rubbed at her eyes before slowly getting up out of bed; she started a bath and stared at her reflection in the mirror. How much she's changed from six years ago, then she was a fifteen year old, newly Blue Blood, now she was twenty one years old, a single mother whose hair was shorter and curlier every day. Her eyes were the same color, and her skin wasn't always as healthy as it used to be, her main priority wasn't her looks, but her daughter now.

She ran her fingers through her hair and grabbed a toothbrush and started to get into her morning routine. Brush. Clean. Brush. Undress. Bathe. Dry. Blow Dry. Curl. Dress.

Ready for the day to come, a little before seven, Schuyler walked out of her bedroom, into the living room and turned a corner, down the narrow hallway, and turned on her right through the doorway into the kitchen, she went into the kitchen cabinet and got a bag of Folgers and started to make her coffee for the day, and then she turned around and put a pop tart into the toaster before walking back into the narrow hallway and walked to the bedroom at the end of the apartment, right across from the front door, and she opened the door and knocked on it with it open wide.

"Wake up honey, its morning," she told her daughter, and saw the little, fragile body under the covers roll onto the side and then groan in the morning fear.

"Already?" She groaned, but Schuyler just smiled and turned back to the kitchen to start making a bowl of Lucky Charms for her.

"Little girl Bella, come on darling," she sang out of the kitchen as she was getting finished with the bowl of cereal and turned around on her heel to the right and with the bowl in her hand, she placed it on their long, rectangle dining table and then called out again. "Isabella, come on, at least it's a Friday, and then you have the weekend and only two days next week before Thanksgiving break!" Schuyler reminded her as she stood in her bedroom, leaning against the door, staring at her six year old daughter lie in her bed, under the safe, comfortable covers.

"Ugh, fine, I'll get up," Bella said and then jumped out of bed in her cute, pink pajamas with the different colored roses printed on it. Her golden blonde hair ruffled in the morning and her bright blue eye, eyes like Schuyler's, still awakening.

"You have cereal on the table," Schuyler told her and then went back into the kitchen, grabbed her pop tarts from the toaster and then pushed the play button on the phone machine, not remembering the last message she had heard, but that didn't play this time, something else did.

"_Hey Sky, it's… It's Bliss," _her half sister said over the phone. _"I'm sorry it's been so long," _chills were going down Sky's spine. _No, no, it's a dream – she's dead, she's dead _Schuyler chanted in her head, _no, no, this is just a nightmare or a prank or a… oh god. He was telling the truth. _

"_I've missed you so much, and I wish to see you again, see… the whole Mimi and Kingsley thing happened and Jack hired that private eye, I just had to take my chance. My chance of speaking with you, though that's not happening right now… Look, just call me back, okay? I really miss you, and I… I just had to try," _and the phone call ended, as well did Schuyler's breath.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yes, I am writing this fanfic in the spirit of **_**Blue Bloods, Push**_** and **_**Gilmore Girls**_**, but it is a Blue Bloods novel still, it just proves how much mothers have to risk and sacrifice to have us and bring us into this world. They love us oh so much. **

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Schuyler brushed out her curls and then pumped them up; she leaned over the sink and touched up her eye makeup. Straightening her back, she evaluated everything, her dark blue jeans and black turtleneck that had flopped down and had a made in belt somewhat in between the stomach and waist.

She walked out of the bathroom and into the living room to find her daughter, Isabella there, sitting on the couch, reading a book of hers, because she loved reading so much. Schuyler just leaned against the frame of the doorway and took in a breath and smiled at the sight.

"I can hear you breathing," Bella said, not moving in the slightest.

"I know, it's just such a Kodak sight," Schuyler joked as she sat next to Bella, "I love you," she told her daughter. Those little blue eyes, such bright blue eyes, looked up from behind the pages of the book and smiled at Schuyler, at her mother.

"I know, I love you too," Bella told her, and then marked her page before jumping off the bed, and they both got their jackets from the closet. Schuyler just grabbed a puffy brown vest, and helped Bella into her cream, long sleeved jacket that ruffled at the end of the sleeves and had dark blue and brown sequins and they walked all the way into town, talking about their day, Schuyler sharing stories of her work that were appropriate for Bella's little innocent ears, and Bella told Schuyler about all of the girls and teachers at her school, telling her about woodchips incidents during recess.

They made it to their favorite diner, Blackham's, and took one of the tables by the window, and their favorite waitress, Allison, comes by, in her short skirt, leggings and leg warmers, and takes their order.

"What will it be this night, ladies?" She asks as she clicks her pen.

"Same as the last time, Allie," Schuyler said as she folded up the menus that were left on the table.

"With more ketchup – and I'll have a hot dog with my cheeseburger, with ketchup."

"Alright, loads of ketchup with an added hot dog to the equation, alrighty, let's see, you want anything else to your meal, Schuyler?" Allison asked, not bothered at all.

"Hmm… we'll have ice cream afterwards," Schuyler thought out loud sweetly.

"Yes! Yes, ice cream, most definitely," Bella agreed.

"With ketchup?" Allison teased and then put away her notepad and pen, "I'll be right back, guys," she said and then went back to the counter that was in between the diner and the kitchen.

"Okay, so what did Winona do _after_ the bed wetter?" Bella asked as she unfolded her napkin and took the utensils out.

"Well, we just cleaned the sheets, and she made it out to be such a drama fest, too, just like Winona would," Schuyler told her.

"So would I," Bella agreed. "That's nasty," she added and then her eyes brightened up as she saw someone coming from behind Schuyler's view. "Kevin!" She exclaimed and then a tall, scruffy brunette guy came over.

"Hey, Belly," he said and leaned down to wrap her up in a quick hug and then turned to Schuyler, who stood up at his arrival. They hugged nicely enough and said their hellos. It was a little awkward for a second as Schuyler looked down at her feet and saw Kevin shuffle his shoes, then took a seat, and leaned her elbow on the table.

"How's Chelsea?" Schuyler asked, as she asked about Kevin's little sister, Chelsea, who was fifteen. An age Schuyler could identify with.

"Good, ugh, got another date," Kevin joked. "Yeah, turning into a w-wonderful woman," he saved.

"I bet," Schuyler told him, stifling her laughter.

"Well, let me know if you need anything," he said, slowly gapping between certain words, and then walked off to talk with the other customers, a palm on the table as he leaned in close for the conversation, but once in a while his eyes would wonder over and see Schuyler, laughing and talking as she ate with her daughter. He never talked to them though, he wanted Schuyler to know how she felt about him, to have to get the shovel and dig deep for the feelings, but for Schuyler, she didn't need a shovel, because the only feelings she felt were him as a friend, as she felt towards any other guy, even Jack, right now, in her mind, it was Bella. That was all that matters.

Back at their apartment – home to them, Schuyler got into her pajamas, soft black and white square plaid, pink fuzzy slippers and a dark blue tank top. She was in the bathroom, brushing her teeth as the TV roared to life, the channels were switching rapidly, Schuyler spit out the toothpaste and washed her teeth and then heard her name called from the other room. She set her toothbrush down and spat everything out one last time, formed a cup with her hands and gargled the sink water.

"Mama! Come on, it's already started," Bella complained, sitting cross legged on the couch as Schuyler walked in, looking like she had already slept with her hair all messy and frizzy. That's how it got when it was curled everyday like it was.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, Girlie," Schuyler told her as she took a seat, sitting in a way that she sat behind her daughter as they watched Gene Wilder in one of his best performances. Bella handed over a brush, comb and two pony tails, sat on Schuyler's lap and attentively paid attention to Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. She sang along with every song the oompa-loompas sang, quoted things that were the same as in the book, and held her kitten, Raleigh, in her arms all as she did so. Schuyler did a mothers work and braided her daughters hair, this was a Friday night ritual, to watch what was ever on ABC, PBS, or Nickelodeon, because Disney, unless it was the classics was not allowed in the Van Alen home.

Not having a whole lot to do with her, besides braid and re-braid and braid and re-braid, Schuyler zoned out, trying to make sense of old feelings and new ones.

When they first got home, they were both cold from walking outside at night, and staring at the stars the entire time so they had cramps in their neck.

"I'm glad we live in and not Boston, in Boston you couldn't see the stars," Bella said as she tried to step in Schuyler's "shadow" as they got closer to the apartment building.

"Yeah, me too," Schuyler said, and smiled at the memory of why she chose Oak Square, once she left Manhattan, she went a lot of places, wanted to buy a house, but wanted to stay underground, at first it was Lawrence, but that was too sentimental of her, then Cambridge, Boston until finally she found Oak Square, with Henley, none the less, and Henley was a familiar she had made, seeing as how Princess stayed in New York City. They entered their building, said hi to the people coming and out, and everyone smiled at the beautiful little girl and her young mom, a lot of them thought the two were trouble and just that, but those that knew them, knew they were just trying to make it by, like anybody else in the world.

People just get uncomfortable when they see a twenty one year old drinking tea and juice instead of whiskey and bourbon. They don't want to admit to themselves that she's doing a better job than all of them combined and never even read any books. The only books Schuyler read were Gothic ones or memoirs like the ones Augusten Burroughs wrote, Dani Shapiro, Dave Eggers, Carolyn Parkhurst, David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell, and other books like that. She always tried to stay in the realm of possibilities and normality as possible.

"Okay," Bella said as Schuyler held the door open from behind her. "I'm going to go take a shower, and get in my PJ's, you do whatever – whatever moms do," she said, and then Schuyler closed the door behind them, and Bella ran off to go start her shower, anxious for their movie, a sucker in her mouth, Schuyler took it out, picked up her coat off the end table and just muttered to herself.

"Weird."

Mindlessly, Schuyler hits play on the voice mail and waits for the next avalanche to erupt. The first one is just a hang up, and Schuyler is wondering exactly who that is, if it's even someone from her past past or recent past, like her friend Lilly, the one who owned Henley and helped her move out here, who always annoys Schuyler to no end with her hang up voicemails before just randomly appearing before their doorstep one day. But it probably wasn't, seeing as how the next message was more informative.

"Hi, Sky… its Jack, and ugh, I wanted to – god, I'm usually good with this, but I don't want to force you to do anything –"Schuyler deleted it, she decided she didn't want to hear his bullshit, as if she could stop the forces of the world anymore, and she accepted that.

Sitting on the couch, with the TV lightly on in the background and a cloud in her lap, Schuyler started to think about the whether there were forces in the universe, or just damn luck and chance. She rested her chin on her daughters shoulder, kissed her cheek and then closed her eyes in memory.

_Everything was breaking_

_Falling_

_Crushing apart_

"_Ahh!" Schuyler screamed in pain, holding onto her stomach, "Jesus Christ!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, but no one came, there was no one there, it was three in the morning and she was lucky this place was open. _

_Christ, Christ, Christ, I don't have enough time… Not enough time… Not enough energy or any – "Ahh!" Schuyler ached from the pain, her hands on her stomach, the overly large and huge stomach – when did I get so huge? What – Why did this happen? She thought while hyperventilating, she was bending over in pain, and just then collapsed to the floor, shaking her ass off because it was cold. "Fucking pilgrims!" She screamed, not at all herself at the moment as she spread her legs and tried to control her breathing. _

_Not here, not here, not here – she tried to think, but she didn't have enough time, her time was running out, the running of the time, and she couldn't chase it, all she could do was scream! "Jesus fucker!" she screamed and then the paramedics, out of nowhere, showed up and starting taking her into their arms and putting her on a stretcher. She tried to fight but was too weak and tired to do so, she had been in labor for hours. She would say on and off but she knew better than that. _

_They rode to the hospital, and the sweet guys in blue kept on asking her questions._

"_How far along are you?" "Do you know who sent us?" "It was a neighbor" "We're going to have to have a sea section." "What is your name?" "Miss, what is your name?"_

"_Van Alen," she breathed, not even gasping anymore for life, those gasps for breath were too much effort anymore for her, now instead of the heavy breathing as was before, she was sweating and moaning, in complete and utter terrible pain. Oh, I'm not going to have sex again, she thought to herself, and then screamed out of pain again. _

_In the hospital, doctors swarmed around her, but only one was consistent. _

"_Do you know what's going on?" He asks, but Schuyler was too frazzled to answer, her eyesight was going in and out. "Okay we're going to need to medicate her - now!" The nice doctor commanded. "Miss, what is your name? Do you understand what I am saying," but at the time, everything was so hectic and so fast, she was moving faster than she had that entire year, but at the same time, the pain was so agonizing she still felt like she was back at that unlocked Chinese restaurant. "Miss," the doctor said as he tried to shake her, and that snapped Schuyler's head to look at him. There were tears in her eyes as she cried out the words._

"_It's going to be my baby, my baby, my baby…" She rattled off as the doctor let her lean back into the stretcher. "Ahh!" She screamed again, the increasing pain was too much for her. What a blessing a stomach ache would be to her now, she never once in her life wished for her period more. "Why the hell did there have to be a menstrual cycle!" She screamed, loud enough for people from here and beyond to erupt in laughter. _

_The next thing she knew she was in a hospital room, with no one she recognized around her… this isn't how it should be, she thought to herself weakly, trying to imagine Bliss's hand in hers, maybe her voice encouraging her on, but she had long forgotten that once she had gotten into labor, she remembered Lawrence, but not his full name, so it was Lawrie that she called him, even Michael and Mimi, and imagined pelting those two with ice cubes for some weird reason, and thought of Dylan as an orange oompa-loompas. God, I'm going Looney Toones, Schuyler thought to herself, but she kept herself together, there was the beautiful Benjamin, her shining light out of everything who she saw smiling across the room, leaning against the wall, but the person who was next to her, supporting her, in her mind, wasn't the obese Mexican – Italian nurse but Oliver Perry – Hazard, with that warming smile, and those glistening eyes as he would wipe away her sweating and wet hair. _

"_You'll be fine," he muttered hope to her. "You and the baby will be fine, we'll all be fine," and his voice faded away in the distance as the drugs took place. _

Snapping back into the present, Schuyler wrapped her arms around her little girl's waist, kissed her neck and whispered into her ear, "Isabella Olivia Van Alen, I love you more than every star in the world."


	4. Chapter 4

**To the very few, but some, Schuyler Oliver fans****  
**

It's a lazy Saturday, hanging at the park, playing with their kitten and working on collages, reading books. Bella sat on her bedroom floor, a collage in working before her, a Magic Tree House book she was reading and a ball of yarn that she used to entertain the baby gray kitten, Journey. Bella loved lazy Saturdays, but sometimes she would feel lonely, it's a sad life you're six and out of friends. Everyone at her school ignored her and teased her, calling her a bastard child even though no one knew what that meant.

About three o'clock, Schuyler started cooking dinner; she put in a CD and got ready in the kitchen. She couldn't cook much, and wasn't the best, but after a few lessons from Kevin, everything she could cook was better than ever. Still, she always compared her food to Hattie's, so it was never good enough.

"Dinner's ready, sweetie," Schuyler called out and then started singing along with the Evanescence CD. Schuyler starts to toss the salad in the bowl as Bella walks in from behind her, and Bella sees the red light on the phone, it does that sometimes, instead of ringing it just flashes, it happens when the lights are as dim as they are now or completely off.

"Hello," another voice from the past spoke, and Schuyler's body turned ice cold, her heart stopped beating before launching into hectic beats. "Sky, it's me, and you better know who that is," he chuckled. "I just wanted to know how you were doing – let you know I still love you –"and he couldn't continue on that train of thought because Schuyler scooped up the phone and raced out of the kitchen, her hands cupping onto the phone like the Holy Grail.

"Ollie?" Schuyler asked in a hushed whisper.

"Schuyler?" Oliver sounded confused, a little uncertain but then his voice brightened. "Schuyler!" He exclaimed but then something changed, because after six years, it felt like everything that he's felt and gone through had to be processed in six minutes. "Why the hell did you do that? Why would you leave me here? What? You couldn't trust me, is that it?" He yelled the questions at her, he yelled them into her ear filled with pure hate, and hate is a breath away from love.

"No, no, that's not it Oliver," Schuyler told him, her voice breaking as all of her emotions poured out of her and everything else that came out of her mouth came out quick with fury. "I do trust you, always have and always will but I was fifteen and pregnant and scared I-I couldn't trust myself anymore, but I've always trusted you, I just never wanted to hurt you!"

There was a while of silence on the phone.

"Pregnant?"

* * *

"Mommy?" Bella asked after Oliver just had, causing Sky to turn around. "Is dinner ready?"

"Yes, in just a sec, baby," Schuyler said and then turned halfway and talked to Oliver. "Look Ollie, I have to go now, but please – can you call me later? Please, I-I like talking to you," she ended up to choke out.

"I will, don't worry about it, I love you Sky."

"Love you too," and there was no doubt she still did.

After their dinner was finished, Samantha, a neighbor's niece came over to invite Bella over for a sleep over, and she ecstatically agreed, and hurried along to pack a bag, but she didn't know what to pack, she'd never been to a sleep over before.

"Why don't you just go?" Schuyler asked, leaning in the doorway again.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked, her little blond head popping up from the floor, she was looking for her shoes that she thought were under her bed.

"Uh, you live right across the hall, give or take, so if you need something you can just come on over. All you need is your key," with a smile, Bella jumped up and grabbed her key off her dresser, and Schuyler handed her a pillow and a thin sleeping bag on Bella's way out, and she was eager to get out of there.

"Hey, hey!" Schuyler objected as they got to the front door, making Bella stopping in her tracks, Schuyler bent down to her knees and hugged her baby girl tight and gave her a kiss, "love you, and have fun, darling, momma always loves you," she repeated and then opened the door for her baby. There, sure enough, was the six year old Samantha and her aunt Lissa.

"Hey Sky, hope you don't mind us stealing Isabella," Lissa said as she laid a hand on her nieces shoulder.

"Oh, not at all, just bring her back on time," Schuyler said without thinking, and Bella and Samantha ran down the hallway together to Lissa's apartment. Lissa just laughed it off, but she didn't have the maternal instinct Schuyler had, and Schuyler was a little bit afraid, she was so glad for her baby girl, but she didn't want her to get hurt. She pushed the thought far, far away from her mind, and soon it was comfortable again. By that time, Lissa had already left after them.

Schuyler stood in the kitchen, the home phone in her hand as she redialed the last number that called. She and Oliver talked all night long, no joke, sure, she would pace while on the phone, sit on the couch, at the dining table, lean over the sink, but found her way into Bella's bedroom when talking about her, and then back into her own bedroom, feeling at home as she talked to her best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all have an amazing 2010 and that we all laugh in 2013 when watching 2012! Ha ha!**

After her night of talking to Oliver, Schuyler was pretty tired as she drove Bella to school.

"Is everything okay?" Bella asked her momma as she sat in the back seat, things had been quiet that morning, and that wasn't normal in their family.

"Momma's alright, baby," Schuyler told her with a smile in the rearview mirror, chuckling, she added on, "just got a lot of thinking to do. A whole lot of thinking, I- I have a past baby." She choked out.

"Everyone has a past, mom," Bella said casually as she played with her blonde braids.

"I know," Schuyler agreed with a smile. They made it to the school, where Schuyler got out of the car, handed her daughter her book bag and gave her one big hug in front of the school. "Mommy loves you, little angel," she told Bella as she brushed her hair behind her ear before kissing Bella's cheek.

"I love you too," Bella said and wrapped her small arms around Schuyler's shoulder but before running into the school to join her classmates she whispered into her mother's ear, "Don't be chased away."

On the ride to work Schuyler couldn't stop thinking about those words. She wouldn't let her old life chase her out of the new one. She wasn't the same girl as before, she wasn't a teenager or just twenty one; she was a mother and not just a blue blood, but human. Schuyler didn't like being human, she wanted to be a part of the fight against the blue bloods, didn't want to hide like all of the other blue bloods but she didn't – she couldn't let Bella live a life like a that, a life in fear, danger…

"You okay?" Winona asked Schuyler, they were standing behind the counter, about to 'work the ground floor' as they said when they mingled at banquets as this. It was sort of a banquet because there were donators there for the day, so they needed schmoozing.

"Yeah – Yeah, I'm fine," Schuyler said as she tried to calm her frantic eyes and brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "Just… just a little frazzled," she said vaguely, but Winona wouldn't take that as answer. Winona took Schuyler by the arm and led her into the kitchen so they could talk privately and have no one important to hear.

"Sky, talk to me," Winona demanded. Winona was one of Schuyler's favorite red bloods, because she acted nothing like it, she had Native American skin that just glowed most of the time, green eyes with the amber brown trip of the pupil. Her face was small and her lips were thin but full, her nose turned down at the tip, just like how she turned down to the world.

"It's just – "Schuyler took a long awaited breath before she told the limited truth. The only truth she could ever tell. "Jack found me, Bella's dad," Schuyler looked down and shuffled her heels. "He hired a private eye – private investigator," Schuyler's breath started to come in short gasps and her voice started to crack as tears flooded her face. "Now he's calling me all the time, and all of these people from my old life, my best friend, my sister… Jesus Christ," she mumbled as her hand flew to her forehead and she just looked down. Winona didn't need to hear anything more; she took Schuyler carefully into her grasp and held her close. "I just don't know what to do," Schuyler choked out.

"It's okay, baby, oh, it's going to be okay," Winona said in an attempt to try to soothe Schuyler.

"It's just all so…" Schuyler sighed as she tried to rearrange her thoughts. It was so hard for her to make sense of everything right now. "I've worked _so_ hard to not be that person anymore, to be strong and to leave that life behind me – and God, it's been so hard. When I first left, I-I would always sneak out in the night and go the same payphone to call home, on Sunday's I would call just to hear Oliver's voice, to feel safe. Monday's I would try – try so hard to resist calling Jack, and once Mimi answered that one time, I couldn't bring myself to do that anymore –" That was all she said before she couldn't take it anymore, she burst into tears.

Winona took Schuyler back into her arms, wrapped her arms around Schuyler's waist and looked over her shoulder to a chef in the kitchen.

"Can you make us some coffee, Joe? Maybe warm up a Danish or doughnuts from the morning?"

"Yeah, sure," Joe agreed and then started to get to work.

Winona started to brush Schuyler's dark hair, the head that was on her shoulder and started to come to a compromise. "I'm going to take you home, Sky, and you'll stay there, okay, I'll cover for you and everything will be alright. I'll pick up Bella from school too, okay; you won't have to worry about anything you don't have to."

Winona grabbed the brown paper bag from Joe and started to lead Schuyler out to the parking lot. Schuyler willingly gave Winona her car keys and sat in the driver's seat, her head leaning on the window, she kept quiet, and around Winona silence wasn't awkward, it was a privilege because Winona had so much energy sometimes it was like a blue moon's effect on people.

The first thing Schuyler did when she got home was take a shower, she washed off her day from head to toe, and for a while she just stood under the warm water, not wanting to return to this strange reality of hers, because she had a new reality now. One that was normal, and to an extent, she liked it this way, she liked having her past being a fairy tale, just bedtime stories that she told her daughter but… no one, especially Schuyler wasn't that lucky.

Out of the shower, Schuyler got dressed into her pajamas and went into the kitchen to microwave some popcorn and to get some ice cream cake out of the freezer. Schuyler turned around to push the play button on the phone machine, but hesitated. What if there was another message? Jack trying to persuade her into his loving arms again, or Bliss, the angered ghost of her past, god, why can't people just stay dead! It's like X-Files, no one stays dead, only they're vampires, dead should be dead. No loopholes. Schuyler's head start to hurt…

_Oliver…_ The thought made Schuyler's skin shiver, she got goose bumps at his name, she felt so bad for leaving him there, and she felt homesick from talking to him last night. There was a part of her who didn't want to miss his call, who didn't want to play her messages because guilt would overpower her because once again she wouldn't be there for her friend. Hell, she hasn't been there for him for the past six years, she's surprised he doesn't hate her guts, after all, that's what has been keeping her insane all these years, thinking that he would just forget about her with time or just hate her after all she's put him through. Part of her thought it was justified for him to hate her, which he should but she didn't want him to, because she still loved him.

_This is so stupid! _Schuyler thought to herself. _Being afraid of a stupid answer machine, so pathetic, just… just get over it! It can't hurt you – you hurt yourself, that's how it works, so stop sticking pins in your arms and get a new voodoo doll. _Then, with petty courage, she pushed the button and heard the voice of one old, long lost friend.

"_I would say you better answer this but you didn't and I doubt you're hearing this as I say it because you're probably – well, I would say work, but you have enough money not to work, but still, I can't just see you sitting around a house or apartment with nothing to do, you've always had too much energy, too much persistence to be like that. Schuyler, I'm not going to beg you to come back home, but I'm going to tell you to face your fears, when you do, you'll find there's nothing to be afraid of. Look, I'm not going to be around for long, I plan on it, so I want to see you one last time, it can be here or there, just tell me. I think I deserve that," _and with that, Lawrence Van Alen vanished once again.

* * *

"No way!" Bella squirmed as she leaned over the table to look at the cards. "That is _so _scary!" She squealed with delight to their neighbor. Petya Yin Afanasiy, she had a round, Chinese face but dark, Russian skin and lips, but those small Chinese eyes. She was a nice person to be around; very Pagan and hippie like, and she owned a huge husky and a black lab in her house, Chang and Hui. Petya was doing a tarot reading for Bella tonight, she had just made them a Russian dinner that filled them up to the core.

"That is so cool," Bella admired as she leaned back into her chair.

"Yeah, you want to learn?" Petya offered. Winona had told Petya about Schuyler's hard time, without most of the details after she had dropped off Schuyler earlier that day, so Petya was doing a favor in entertaining Bella while letting Schuyler do the dishes. "Hey Sky! You sure you don't want some help?" Petya yelled back.

"Yeah, I'm good!" Schuyler replied.

"Hey, why don't you let me do you a reading, mom?" Bella asked, making Schuyler smile and melt down at the core, she let the dish she was washing rest in the sink and went to sit down at the dining table. She sat at the right of Petya and across from Bella, well, Bella was sitting closer to the other end of the table actually.

"Alright, let's see how close mother and daughter are with a mind reader lay out," Petya teased while Schuyler grew anxious with fear, _no one should be burdened with that, with thoughts of another, especially mine, this head gets pretty dangerous sometimes. I don't want Bella to be scared, and she would be, she has every reason to be scared of me, she comes from a line of freaks. A mother freak, _Schuyler's thoughts rambled on.

"Eh, that'll just be boring," Schuyler said, not wanting those thoughts to be revealed. Secrets were supposed to say secrets, no matter what and no matter what reality we were in.

"Yeah, let's do the one we just did," Bella said with a smile, she was getting giddy. "Past, present and future," _oh great, something even scarier and creepier than my thoughts is my past… there's something to get freaked out about, a slut vampire of a mother. _Schuyler's fingers flew to her temple to soothe out her thoughts.

"You okay, Sky?" Petya asked as she reached to touch Schuyler's hand but Schuyler jerked her hand away and tucked it behind her back. Petya's dark brown eyes looked hurt from the rejection, so Schuyler just smiled and brought her hand back to squeeze Petya's.

"Just fantastic," Schuyler lied with a smile and then turned to Bella. "So what does my future entail?"

"First you have to shuffle the deck – it's supposed to leave your energy on the cards," Bella explained just as Petya explained to her. "That's what Pet said," Bella smiled as she looked over to Petya, Bella loved using Petya's nickname, she thought it was adorable and ironic since she had so many pets herself.

"Alright," and Sky did as she was told and then took the three cards off the top of the deck and laid them out on the table the way Bella told her to. "Let's see now," Sky sung as she flipped over the cards. There was the 0 Fool as the first one, indicating the past, XII The Hanged Man in the middle and VII The Chariot finishing it off.

"Hmm…" Petya hummed to herself, her long, painted purple nails touching the cards, "the fool represents a new cycle in life, I guess that would be when you moved here from Manhattan," Petya guessed, and she got it right. "The Hanged Man, oh, well that's supposed to mean a sacrifice because of a person and internal struggles, in the present," Petya said slowly as her eyes drifted up to Schuyler's, because they both knew who Schuyler was sacrificing herself for, and even though they thought they were being sneaky about their exchange, Bella slumped into her seat, which Schuyler saw and then reached over the table to offer a hand to hold for Bella. Bella smiled and jumped up from her seat and walked around the table to sit in Schuyler's lap.

"What's next?" Schuyler asked, not really wanting to know the future, she already knew what it entailed. Doom.

"Well, the Chariot is pretty straight forward, it means a trip, some vacation or travelling in your future."

"Like me getting up from my seat to mom's lap?" Bella asked, teasing her mother and Petya. They both chuckled.

"More like you two getting in a car and going somewhere – ooh, how about Disneyland? California? Have you ever been there?" Petya asked, very much a child herself.

"No," Bella said, a smile forming on her lips, and that erupted into a tale about roller coasters and hotel rooms, but Schuyler knew where they supposed to go, and her mind brought her to the same place.

"_Oh my god, oh my god," Schuyler cried as she hugged Bliss's body to her chest. "No, no," Schuyler cried, "not you, oh god, please God, please, not her!" She yelled, and the next thing she knew, she was at home, walking through the door, Hattie still letting her in like she was a little kid. _

"_Oh Schuyler…" Hattie barely whispered, and held Schuyler by the arms. "What happened?!" She kept on asking, she was yelling it at Schuyler, since no one else was home. _

"_I need clothes, a bag, a suit case, things to pack, something to pack it into," Schuyler said monotonously, all she knew was that she had to get out, and the zombie in her was taking control of the matter. "I need money," and the next thing she knew, Hattie giving her the safe money, all of the emergency cash from the safe in Lawrence's office, and packed it into the duffel bags that Schuyler had. Hattie fixed a shower for Schuyler and laid out clothes for her, and everything was going so fast and slow at the same time that Schuyler couldn't place things in chronological order, or even feel it from the bone, she was a ghost, the walking dead for real this time, and now a fugitive in her eyes._


	6. Chapter 6

**I make up in length  
**

Bella went to school gleefully; glad for the day and for her new best friend. That was how it worked, right? You sleepover at a girls house and you're best friends, instantly, and instant best friends is what makes the world go around. With her thin and almost empty book bag on her back, she walked into the classroom, sat down in her desk and started to fold and unfold her hands before she started doing a hand game with the desk. She was ecstatic and not hiding it.

Then a group of girls started giggling as they entered the doorway, and Bella looked up to see Cassandra, Drea and Kiely walk into the room, with Bella's new best friend Jessica, and Jessica looked up at Bella, smiling wide as she waved, and then they all erupted into laughter. Bella's heart sank, her hands folded up and landed in her lap, and she looked down at the desk, ashamed that she ever thought of herself as a friend.

At lunch, Bella sat alone, writing and doodling randomly in her notebook as she ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She looked down, her hair covering the side of her face.

"Bella!" Jessica exclaimed as she saw her friend and sat down across from Bella, her paid lunch in front of her. "It's so good to see you," Jessica said as she brushed a strand of her strawberry blond hair behind her ear. "Is everything okay?"

"Why are you here?" Bella grunted, "Shouldn't you be with your other friends?"

"You don't like them?"

"They don't like me…"

"Why not?" Jessica probed as she started eating.

"I tried to be their friend in the beginning of the year, and they learned that I… Well, they call me a 'bastard'." Bella cringed at the word. "I asked my mother and she told me that it means 'fatherless child'." Bella sounded as if she was going to cry.

"You don't have a father?" Jessica whispered carefully.

"I do. I just don't know him, I don't know anyone in my family besides my mother, and, well, they like to make fun of me because of it." Bella tells, still looking down at her sandwich, and then she looks up and locks eyes with Jessica's eyes.

"Wow," is all Jessica says for a while. "Do you want to meet him?" By this question, Bella was taken aback, because no one had ever asked this before, not even her mother.

"I-I don't know," Bella stammered, finally thinking about it.

* * *

After school, Schuyler picked up Bella at first asking her normal routine of questions, but Bella had something nagging her from the back of her mind.

"Mom," Bella started out, fidgeting with her fingernails. "What can you tell me about my father?" Schuyler became silent, stiff at the question, at the thought of Jack.

"What do you want to know?" Schuyler asked, trying to avoid the inevitable.

"Well, can I… Will I ever meet him?" Bella asked, making Schuyler's heart melt.

"Maybe," Schuyler thought, and then sighed as she put it together. "I don't know sweetie, it all depends on whether he wants to or not."

* * *

Sitting on the edge of her bed, with the phone in her hand, something that was once so common, so useful, now felt like a lethal weapon. She looked up, around her room, at the dark yellow walls that reminded her of home, the beaded floral string across the edge of the ceiling, a rainbow of dragonflies, a dream catcher and the personal knitted pillows, not to mention the random Halloween and Christmas decorations. This was her home now, _this _made her comfortable. Watching her daughter do ballet recitals, school plays and helping her with the simple math she's mastered already. She loved finger paints and being artistic now, she'd gotten used to being behind the camera when her _friends_ hadn't stolen it from her. It was normal, it was everything she didn't want, but now she was used to it, for her daughter, and for her daughter, she has to go into the world she unwillingly escaped.

Sighing once again, with her eyes closed, Schuyler became calm in the dark, so she stood up, turned off the lights and then certain dragonflies dimmed the room. Laying back into her bed, she molded comfortably into the mattress and dialed the numbers that she could never forget.

_It's dark out, the only light coming from the moon and the stars, _wow, you can see the moon and the stars here,_ Schuyler thought to herself, and there were few people here on the sidewalks, but she found herself turning around and around and around, circling herself, walking to god knows where before she found an actual _payphone. _A real, live pay phone, Schuyler rushed to it, almost getting hit by a truck, making her clutch tightly to her stomach and to her bags. She ran into the pay phone, breathing heavily, thoughts racing in her head, her heart pounding fast, she knew what she had to do. What she needed to do. What she wanted to do. _

_Dialing her home number, Schuyler let it ring and ring, growing more anxious with each, her nervousness eating away at her, at her blood, making it boil, her skin jumpy. Then the line picked up, no one even breathed, or even spoke, and she jumped, putting the phone back. _

"_Yeah, that thing rarely works," someone said just as Schuyler was sinking into the corner of the box. She looked up at him, seeing his body leaning against the edge of a doorway, a cigarette in his mouth as he lit it, then taking it down. He looked back at Schuyler, with warm green eyes. "I have a cell if you want to use it," but Schuyler just stood there, scared, and if anything was to be scaring her at the moment, it was everything, including this innocent guy. "Don't be so scared," he offered her, but she remained in her space, wishing he would too. Wishing he would leave her the hell alone. "Here," he handed her his cell phone, a simple flip phone, nothing too fancy or over the top, just what a person needs. "I'll stay right here," and he made it a show that he didn't move at all._

_Schuyler held the phone in her hand, but she couldn't make herself to call, so she stuffed it back into his hands, "No thanks," she told him and rushed out of the way._

"_Wait – hey, wait, homeless girl, wait-"The guy yelled at her as he followed._

"_I'm not homeless!" Schuyler snapped as she turned around, just then a car zoomed past her, causing her to go flying around in a circle before backwards, letting the stranger catch her._

"_You fell for me," he joked, a smile on his lips. He was cocky, and Schuyler couldn't take confidence as much as she could handle being on her own right now. _

"_I don't fall for people I don't know," she barked, her eyes fierce now, and worried as she stood in the middle of an unknown street at night. _

"_My name's Kevin," he said, offering a friendly hand._

Breathing into the phone, she heard it ring for the third time. She was counting, trying not to breathe too hard, to be an independent single twenty one year old mother, someone responsible, who takes… responsibility for her actions.

"Hello," including this one. "Schuyler? Is this you?" Schuyler's thoughts became somewhat clear, she thought she was high at the time, but she could have just been the sixteen year old, scared runaway who thought she was losing everything… or just the eccentric, amazing mother she became.

"Hi, this is Isabella Olivia Van Alen, I'm Schuyler's daughter."


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I understand that the few that read this and have stuck through the two to three weeks without publishing, have been confused, whatever is in italicized guys, and i say this in the nicest way possible, is a flashback of just the stuff I make up and shit, so yeah, sorry if you guys are confused or anything, **

**and yes, time has passed from the last passage I wrote  
**

Schuyler turns over onto her side, moaning in the morning, wishing she could go back to sleep even though she isn't tired anymore, she looks on her dresser and see's that it's just six forty five in the morning, the time she usually gets up, and she rolls over onto her other side and sees Bella there. Wrapping one arm around her daughter, she snuggles in real quick before quietly tip toeing off her bed.

_Wow, this place hasn't really changed, _Schuyler thought as she looked around her old room, the yellow walls, the _Evanescence_ posters, _but I have. _Still dressed in her pajamas, Schuyler walked down the familiar stair case from her childhood, her pink slippers protecting her feet from the cold. She walked her way to the back of the kitchen, started a morning pot of coffee and was cutting herself a piece of cheese cake when Hattie came in.

"Oh, Miss Schuyler, I wasn't aware you were up," Hattie told her, a huge smile on her face. "I would have already started making breakfast," she explained. "What would you like?" She asked, eagerly going to the stove, wanting nothing more than to take care of her baby girl, because, in many ways, Schuyler was her daughter.

"It's okay Hattie, this is fine," Schuyler pointed to the cake and then started eating it there, standing up while she talked to Hattie. "Thank you for everything, you've been an angel," Schuyler complimented, making Hattie smile more. "Is Lawrence here?"

"No, he and Allegra went out to lunch with Michael and some other people, for business, as you see, I only know because they fought over Michael, you know those two," Hattie winked.

"Allegra and Michael or Michael and Lawrence?"

"Michael and Lawrence of course, those two… cats and dogs," Hattie said, doing some cleaning of the stove to keep her hangs busy. "You know, I still can't believe you have a daughter, and oh! How much she looks like you, like her father too, with his hair and all." She smiled her eyes in some distant, far away land.

"Yeah, she does," Schuyler managed to say.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hattie apologized. "I didn't realize – oh, it must pain you, for all these years to look at her and see Jack."

"Its fine, I'm fine," Schuyler said as she walked off, eating as she journeyed through the house. She took a seat in the living room, with the open shades and the same old furniture, Schuyler felt at home. She laid her food on the coffee table and turned on the television, flipping through the Fox and CNN News, letting Bella sleep some more, after all, Bella had a harder time falling asleep than Schuyler.

"Oh God, if I must hear one more word about the Crofton case, I might just have you kill me, Allie," Lawrence spoke, in that raspy old voice of his as he entered the living room, and caught eye of Schuyler, sitting there like she was still living there, in her pink slippers, black and wide plaid pajama bottoms and black v-neck tank. "Why, my lord," he smiled. "I didn't know you got home today," he said, a new look of calm excitement on his face as he took Schuyler in his arms and hugged her tight. "It's good to see you," he told her with a kiss on her cheek. "You've grown."

"You see me every day and you've just now noticed this?" Someone teased from the hall and then suddenly the room was filled with Blue Bloods. Lawrence turned and Schuyler saw all of the people she didn't want to see, Mimi, Kingsley, Dylan, Bliss, Michael, Allegra… and Jack. Mimi was the one who made the retort.

"I wasn't talking to you Madeleine, I was talking to Schuyler," and then he turned his attention back to Sky. "I see you've eaten, but is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No, I'm good. I'll just go upstairs and get dressed," she offered, as she picked up her plate and tried to make her way into the kitchen.

"Schuyler!" Bliss shrieked out of joy and ran towards her, and just as Schuyler turned around, Bliss hugged her tight, wrapping her arms around her waist. "Oh, I've missed you so much! I didn't know at all you were coming! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I thought Lawrence would have said something," and then everyone's eyes in the room locked on Lawrence.

"I guess I just wanted to keep her all to myself," he joked, smiling sheepishly and then exited the room to retreat to his office.

"Oh my god!" Bliss breathed, in hysterics now as she took hold of Schuyler's wrist and guided her back to the couch, "Tell me everything!" She squealed, as if they were back in high school, normal high school like normal girls. "Now. Right now," she demanded.

"I can't at the moment, Bliss," Schuyler told her, trying to brush her curls behind her ear. "I have to go get dressed; we'll talk later, okay?"

"We better," and Bliss pinched Sky's arm. "Just to make sure you're real, and that I didn't fall asleep during that_ boring_ breakfast," Bliss said with the roll of the eyes.

"Well, I'll – I'll talk to you later," Schuyler said, a little uneasy at the reality of this as she tried to step out of the room. No one stopped her, but Schuyler could play all kinds of different conversations in her head. All of them about her, about the scandal, the prodigal daughter, they didn't know the half of it.

"Schuyler Isabella Van Alen, get your ass back here," someone ordered. Someone named Allegra, and the voice made Schuyler's heart jump. When she read the papers that Allegra Van Alen was back, that she was up and walking, living, breathing, she wanted to come back, to wrap her arms around her and hug her tight. She wanted her years of dreams to come true. Schuyler slowly turned around, a little reluctant, like Bliss, she wanted to know if she was dreaming.

Allegra was beautiful, as always, and she flowed right towards Schuyler, her green eyes shimmering in the light as she hugged her one and only daughter. Schuyler hugged back, loving the lavender vanilla smell off her skin, her hair, and feeling her silky smooth pale skin against hers. She loved feeling the silk of her shirt against her cotton clothes, and she wanted it to always be like this.

"Oh my god, my sweet little Schuyler," Allegra breathed, a sense of happiness and joy washing over her. She held on tighter to her daughter, and Schuyler reciprocated. "I want to know all about you, I feel like we're complete strangers," Allegra said, a little bit of an awkward smile on her lips. "It's been so long, I feel like a fool calling myself your mother."

Schuyler didn't know what to say, she knew she was her mother, she shouldn't feel like a fool, she wanted to point out that this family was dysfunctional from the start, if at all a family, but she knew better than that. It was Thanksgiving, she couldn't be a scrooge.

"Don't worry, I'll never feel like that," she said, and walked up the stairs, leaving Allegra there.

* * *

Lawrence and Bella were spending time together, no one knew what they were doing, not even them, they were leaving it up to the skies, as Lawrence said, and Bella didn't understand the expression, but she liked it. She liked having a great grandfather.

"I won't be around forever, in fact, I won't be around for much longer," Lawrence told her. They were eating pizza for lunch, though of course Lawrence had a steak, raw. "I want you to know that, even though I'll always be there for you, I'll always be here."

"You'll be reincarnated," Bella said as she carved up her pizza. "With Cordeila?" She asked, her blue eyes brightening, she stared at Lawrence, who just looked confused, startled beyond belief.

"How do you know that? Did your mother tell you?" Lawrence demanded in hushed tones.

"Mom tells me things," she admitted, her eyes on her food now. "She tells me them in fairy tales, as if everything's like a fairy tale, but I know it's not," she said, raising her head, looking older than six years old. Maybe eight or nine.

"You do?" Lawrence asked, letting his chin rest on his hand as he leaned his arms on the table. "Why not? Fairy tales are believable."

"Not really, I guess… I live like one, not having a daddy, but then, I look at mom, and she's not all that bad. She's not wicked, she's simple," Bella said. "My best friend," she added proudly, eating her pizza in tiny bites of pieces.

Lawrence just stared at her, puzzled, looking for the missing pieces.

* * *

Schuyler arrived at the restaurant, looking more like a runway model than any other time in her life, even when she was a runaway. She wore four inch high heels, an olive brown that were her favorite pair, something she found at a thrift store that had the name MIA written in gold. She wore a short dress, a pale pink that was tube dress that tied around the waist with a pale pink band that was braided all around the front and back. Jack saw her in two seconds and Schuyler smiled as he waved her over to join him, he was sitting inconveniently in the middle of the dining area, in a close and tight knit table.

"Hey," Jack greeted with a smile and kissed Schuyler on the cheek, charming his way back into her life. "You look beautiful," he complimented as they both took their seats from across each other.

"Thank you," Schuyler said with a slight blush, she couldn't help but smile, but something in the back of her mind, and maybe it was the adult, the mother in her now that kept her on the fast track, on what she came here to do. "Uh, Jack," she tried, she wanted to give it over with, to rip the band aid off but then the waitress came by and they ordered their rare steaks and bottle of wine.

"We can't get drunk, but at least it'll bring something's back," Jack charmed, his finger softly etching circles on Schuyler's palm, making her eyes distort. "I really missed you Sky," he told her sincerely with those deep green eyes fixed on her sweetly, but Schuyler just stared at his hand in hers, and soon they started talking about all of the Blue Bloods and Silver Bloods, mostly Jack telling her what he knew and what's been going on for the past six years, describing graduation and his acceptance and some of his Silver Blood kills.

They were refusing to eat dessert because Jack had to get back to work, when the voice in the back of Schuyler's head, the one that reminded her she's not fifteen and madly in love anymore. "Jack," she started, pressing his lips. "I have something to tell you, something that's… well, it's going to redirect your day," she said, and Jack just looked at her, with an amused glint in his eyes.

"What, Schuyler? Can't be that bad," he said, reaching out for her hand again, and Schuyler let him take it, and rub his fingers into her skin, etching out marks that would fade away. More than anything she wanted to walk into his arms and lean her head on his chest, and stay like that forever, in his embrace, and she feared if he knew the truth, he wouldn't hold her ever again, but he had to know. There was no dodging it anymore.

"I was pregnant," she whispered, so no one but they could hear, but in case he didn't, or just so she knew that she actually had said it, she repeated it. "I was pregnant," she said a little bit louder, at a normal voice now as she looked away from the napkin in front of her and up at his eyes, eyes that looked more concerned than confused. "That was why I – why I initially left. I didn't Bliss was a Silver Blood, that he was inside of her, or that she was my sister, all I knew is that I had to get out of here or otherwise both of our asses were on the line," she reached out to grab his hand but he recoiled. She stared into his eyes, pleading for him to forgive her. "I left, and for that, I'm _deeply _sorry, but I-I was scared, Jack, and I felt so alone after that attack… Jack, please."

He didn't look at her and then he fumed at her.

"What have you been doing for the past six years?" He asked her calmly at first. "Playing Barbie's, house? What the hell, Schuyler!" His voice didn't rise over a whisper, surprisingly. He had grown restraint over the years, there's a shocker. "We could have used you, I needed you, and it wasn't just me, we had a battle, a _war_ to fight and you just stood on the sidelines because you didn't want to get hurt?"

"I _couldn't_, Jack," Schuyler tried to explain. "Are you listening to me? I had a child, _our _child. I wanted to be here, I wanted to fight, you know me, but I had something different, something more important. It may not be life and death, but it's _my _life, and if you don't want to be a part of it, then get over yourself because you have a daughter whether you like it or not," and she stood to get up, but her purse was on the back of her chair, and she accidently flipped the chair over and then she hastily yanked her purse off and walked out of there with no other word, embarrassed but her anger was filling over that.

* * *

Schuyler couldn't sleep, she couldn't rest either, but Belle was energetic enough for both of them as she told her all about her day with Lawrence, how Lawrence introduced her to Bliss and Dylan, giving Schuyler a prepared headache for when that happened on top of the two headaches she already had. They walked around Central Park and around Manhattan for a while, until they got too cold and caught a bus back home.

They walked back into the Van Alen Mansion, jumpy as they tried to get warm again, and while Belle took a warm shower and got dressed in new clothes; Schuyler wrapped herself in a blanket over her wet clothes from the falling snow and prepared a fire place.

"You don't look a day over twenty one," Bliss said from behind her and Schuyler looked over her shoulder, expecting a hurricane but instead Bliss stood there, leaning against the doorway, her eyes fixated on the other wall and not Schuyler. "So how can you be a mother? How can she be… well, of course she is, she looks so much like you, but so much like Jack, with the hair, and I can see she'll look like him when she's older, with the lips." Bliss rambled on. "You all look like twins, you, Allegra and Belle, and I… I'm on the outside looking in, I don't look…"

"Bliss, you're going insane, again," Schuyler joked as she stood in front of Bliss, still holding the blanket around her, close to the chest to keep warm. "How can you think you're not a part of this family? You are, you were here for mom when I wasn't, and you're my best friend and my worst enemy, so you have to my sister," she added, always with the jokes to ease the uneasiness.

"You are such a little sister," Bliss said, shaking her head as she hugged Schuyler close. "From this point on, I want phone calls, emails, visits, goddamn Christmas cards, Jesus Christ, anything!" She begged, still feeling left out.

"Look, Bliss, if anyone needs to feel left out, it should be me."

"You? Look at you, you're my grown up than any of us, you've changed the most, and it's been… ugh, it's been so long," and Bliss brought her back into her arms for another hug, and they both heard the front door open and close.

"Hello girls," Dylan said as he walked up to them. "Gushy much?" He teased, making Schuyler punch him lightly in the arm, but he shrugged it off and gave her a hug anyway. "Guess this makes you my almost sis in law? Huh, maybe you could be the maid of horror at our wedding," he asked causally.

"Dylan!" Bliss reprimanded, hitting him harder in the arm, making him recoil. "It's maid of _honor_ and I was going to ask, god Christ, she doesn't even know we're engaged," Bliss pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

"Well, it's not hard to notice with that rock," Schuyler laughed, taking Bliss's hand in hers as she complimented the ring and they all talked about how Dylan and Oliver picked it out, making Schuyler feel even more homesick than before, acting like her old self, with her best friends around her, life felt perfect, but life wasn't perfect when she went to bed dreaming of past memories, rotating from Jack to Oliver to Lawrence to Jack to Lawrence to Oliver and Oliver and Jack and Lawrence again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, so I'm not sure where to really go from here, but this seems right, its pen and paper, whatever I type, you get, he he, I feel so sorry for you all**

Eating her scrambled eggs, drinking her white milk and enjoying the bacon and cube shaped hash browns, Schuyler worried about Bella. She worried if this is the life she wanted, if she would want to stay, to be pampered and fed and treated like a princess. After all of the six years of trying to remain off the grid, of trying her best and trying to raise her right, she wondered if it was all crap, if this was the life they were supposed to be living. With the cup of coffee in her hands growing cold, Schuyler dazed out of life, imagined what it would be like if she had stayed, all of these other realities, time lapse lifetimes she could never have, she could have died, Jack could have died, and Mimi would have killed them. She imagined living with Jack, raising her daughter, and living with Oliver, acting as if he was the father, lying to her more than she needed.

"Mommy?" Bella asked again, waking her mother out of her daze.

"Yeah, sweetie," Schuyler said, still a little dazed as she took a seat, pulling out the chair and then pulling it back in.

"You okay?" Bella asked, picking at the egg omelet Hattie had also gave her. "You look scared," Bella told her, and Schuyler thought that was the perfect word for her emotions. Scared, worried, fearful. Scared, that worked the best out of them all.

"I'm just… you like it here?" She asked, cocking her head so that it was tilted. "Do you want to live here?" She asked, the fear spilling out of her voice as it rang out slowly. "I mean, is our life back home… not right? Ugh, I don't know anymore," Schuyler moaned letting her head fall into her arms and rest. She felt Bella's hand touch her head, patting it sweetly.

"I like it at home," Bella told her, and Schuyler replied by slowly lifting her head. "I like my chocolate milk and lucky charms, even together," she told her in that cute, softened high voice. "I'm getting friends at school, Jessica, she's nice," she said, trying to find all of the good things about her life. "We can walk everywhere; we need too much money here. Kevin, he needs us, who else would he feed?" Chuckling, Schuyler smiled to her and started to help Bella eat some of her breakfast, actually drinking the coffee now.

Slipping on their jackets, they were ready for another day in the great Manhattan, reading to go onto the Circle Line, a boat ride around the New York Harbor with Jack, but before that he planned a trip to the Empire State, Chrysler and Woolworth building, this was Jack's day, not theirs. Schuyler remembered the conversation she had with him on the phone last night, right between talking to Bliss about dress shopping before the Thanksgiving dinner that was tonight.

"_What does she like to do?" Jack probed as I kept my shoulder hunched so I could keep the phone up to my ear as I washed my face._

"_You'll have to find out for yourself, remembers Jack, she's six, not sixteen, and she's still being molded. That's our jobs," I tell him, and then take it back, he's probably scared shitless out of his mind because of that now. Shit. Sighing, I try to reconstruct it all. "Look, Jack, she just wants to be with you, okay, she wants to have a day with her dad, she wants to get to know _you_, don't worry about her, just worry your ass off and do some research for family friendly places in Manhattan, stay away from certain Kid Rock songs, okay? It'll all be good," I tell him as I pull my hair into braids, and then Bella gives me the look, pointing at me and then her, and then I point at the braids, myself and her and she nods her head. I nod my head, we have a certain system. _

"_Yeah it's just… I've never spent any time around _kids_," Jack admitted, like it's some big secret. "I never knew I could have my own, my own flesh and blood, _actual _flesh and blood, and I brought her into this world and…" Too tired to give him a party of my own, I gave the phone to Bella as I sat behind her, combing her hair._

"_Hi," she breathed into the phone, she was so excited to finally meet him, and I could tell by the look in her eyes and the blush on her cheeks she found his voice as the appetizer, something to appease her and to make her hungry for more. After this… would she want us to be a family? Married? I don't know if I'm ready for that, and I'm so selfless that I'd marry him just for my baby girl. "Are you Jack?" She asked, she was a little weird about calling him daddy, after Dylan made a crack at Jack still being a child and not calling his own father Dad. "Yeah, yeah, that all sounds cool… no, I don't mind what we do… a boat ride! That'd be _so _cool! I'd love that, yeah, oh, I eat anything… maybe not that," and she giggled, and I could tell that he was charming her. He would be a great dad. "Okay, okay, good bye… good night dad, sweet dreams," she said as she pressed her lips together and then smiled wide. _

So the plan of Bella and Jack's day was something in between them, Schuyler did not give Jack one ounce of advice, today was his first test, and when Bella needed the sex talk, that would be his final. Laughing inside her head, they headed out to where Bliss was waiting in her lime green Volkswagen beetle, her cell phone to her ear, looking like she was having fun talking to Dylan. She looked up and saw them, and waved a small little wave before hanging up on the phone. Schuyler took the driver's seat while Bella gets comfortable in the back, she's grown fond of country music since hanging around Bliss, or maybe she's just growing fond of Bliss.

"Tell Dylan to leave you alone already, you're mine for the day," Schuyler told her, hitting her on the arm in the sister way we had now. They probably always had it, Bliss was always the admirable older sister that when she rarely screwed up, she screwed up horribly and Schuyler was the restless, quiet, always expanding her ways, doing anything for money. Almost anything, because she's not going to have any other kids.

"Oh, I told him, he's just getting his last word in," Bliss said as she smiled charmingly. "So, you ready for a day with daddy?" Bliss asked, looking back at Bella.

"Yeah," Bella told her, a big old goofy grin on her face. Whenever she smiled… she looked like her father, her hair and her lips, exactly like her dads. "I hope he likes me," she adds nervously, making their heart sink, and then she smiled, a sad, little smile and she started to talk to Bliss, and they were all in a conversation when we were pulling into Jack's house, one not too far away, after all, us Blue Bloods got to stick together. "He lives here?" Bella asked, looking awe struck in the back seat, her hand on the window.

"You're a Blue Blood at heart, honey," Schuyler told her unwillingly, not wanting to realize this sad truth, and she opened the door, and started walking but then turned back, and opened her door, and she still sat there. "Don't be scared, sweet hearts," I told her, holding out my hand.

"Can you… can you just see him first?" She asked, a more than a little nervous now.

"You're going to have to meet him eventually," and Schuyler held her hand, and pulled Bella up out of her seat, but she still had that fearful look in her eyes so so Schuyler knelt down to her level. "Sweetheart," She said smoothly, brushing her hair behind her ear and then fluffing it. "No matter what, he's going to love you, he's going to look into your eyes and his first thoughts are going to be _My Little Girl_, he'll fall in love with you on sight," She promised her and then held Bella tight in a hug, kissed her on a cheek and sent her to the tigers den.


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for taking so long, at first there was the one word that started with a V, and it's not vagina, that I couldn't remember, then my computer got taken away for three weeks, basically because it broke after only three years… yeah, good times, well, for those of you have stuck along for so long, kudos to you, it's the end.**

Their private room was at the back of Le Cirque, it was just one wall of doors to private dining rooms for those richer than the rich that already ate here publicly. Bliss, Dylan and Schuyler walked in together, Dylan looking like Dylan, with his shirt hanging loose over his black dress pants while Bliss looked drop dead gorgeous as always, her curls contained and darkened, looking shiny in the light and wearing her long gold, strappy dress while Schuyler walked next to her, wearing the Victorian corseted black dress and purple-brown gypsy coat Dylan had got for her at a renaissance fair. She loved them both, and couldn't imagine staying or leaving.

The room they had was small, but really nice with the warm walls. Lawrence was already there, so was Allegra, sitting next to him… Charles, Mimi and Kingsley were there as well.

"What the hell?" Schuyler asked, whispering into Bliss's ear.

"I don't have a clue," Bliss told her, and Schuyler believed it to be true as Bliss and Dylan sat next to Charles, who was at the end of the table, facing Allegra, like they were the head of the party. Well, in a way, they were, but in Schuyler's mind it felt as if it should Lawrence and Cordelia sitting across from each other, talking about the first Silver Bloods, the May Flower and the colonies and everything they've been through together. And for once, Mini and Kingsley were separated, Mini sat next to Allegra and Kingsley sat in between Bliss and Lawrence.

This was going to be one _long_ night.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy," Isabella said excitedly, her small, cool hand grasping onto Schuyler's arm. "Mommy, you'll never believe what daddy and I did today!" She beamed, making Schuyler's throat grow thick and restrain the tears in her eyes at seeing how happy her daughter was now.

"What sweet heart?" Schuyler said as she brushed a strand of hair behind Bella's ear, she looked beautiful tonight, her hair was curled and put up, looking like a princess in her darling white dress, that reminded Schuyler of Alice In Wonderland. "Take a breath," she reminded Bella.

"Okay…" Bella did as her mother said so, making Jack even more astonished at how faithful she was. "Well, we went to all of those high towers, and we saw the entire city! Like, I'm not kidding – the _entire _city," Bella started, not breathing anymore. "And the Little Red Lighthouse – that's so cool, we saw birds there! So many birds, so many, many," she said, and it was obvious she had had sugar during her trip with Jack, so Sky sent him questioning glares. He replied sheepishly. "And Riverside Park – we went _everywhere_, it was insane! But was even better is that I told him about the Alice in Wonderland sculpture at Central Park, and we couldn't stop talking about it!" She finished, absolutely beautiful with the energy in her.

"I bet, you surely didn't get your reading habits from me," and again, she sent darts to Jack as she ate some of the appetizers.

"And that's a bad thing?" He asked with a smirk and a wink, reminding her of the reason they fell in love, and why they're still in love. The only bad thing that night was Mini, the dinner was good, everyone behaved in front of Bella, but once she went to bed, and she crashed automatically after dinner, practically dead as she walked to the car with Schuyler, and she wouldn't let go of Jack's hand, in fear that she would lose him all over again. She didn't want to be like Alice, to have to wake up and find it was all a dream, because in her world, it would be one cruel, heartless dream that she could never forgive. Jack had to help her get into the car, promising her that he'd say goodbye in the morning and kissed her on the forehead as she fell back into the car, already asleep.

Schuyler would have crashed just that easily in the car, but Jack wanted to talk to her first before she left.

"Why not wait until the morning?" Schuyler asked, a little sad, thinking that he could lie when it came to a promise like that.

"Well, I just want to know if I can… take her to breakfast in the morning, I know of these Alice in Wonderland themed restaurants and we can get breakfast… if that's alright with you," he offered. This was one of the first times in Schuyler's life that Jack Force seemed… awkward, a mere mortal.

"Sure," She promised him. "We'll take the eleven forty five instead," she added and then hugged him, a hug lasting longer than it should.

"Well, if it isn't the flame being reconnected," Mimi mocked as she stepped closer, making Schuyler step back, if anyone can make her feel like she's in high school again, it's Mini Force, because Mini _was_ high school. All the cruelty and beauty, but of course, Schuyler didn't see her as beautiful, she saw her with horns.

"Mini –"Jack tried, but failed.

"I want you to know that your little stunt here isn't going to change anything," Mini barked at Sky, but Schuyler just said nothing, making Mini step further in her threats. "And if I can find anything wrong about your life in Cambridge, I will take her away from you." This made Schuyler snap, and step forward, stepping on Mini's toe.

"Don't you dare," Schuyler growled. "Touch a hand to my daughters head, come near our home –"

"But I'll have to, the Venerators have to make sure that the Blue Bloods secret is secure," the smirks on Mimi's face match the seething of Schuyler's teeth.

"I want to commit murder," Schuyler told Winona as they got to work, "Mimi Force is a force to be reckon with," Schuyler added. "Gah!" She screamed, punching at her locker.

"Sky, calm down," Winona told her calmly. "They won't take Bella, they just – _cant_."

"No, no, they can, they took me –"

"What?"

"Oh, never mind," Schuyler said and went back to work. The day passed slowly enough, Bella was in school, with her new friend Jessica, thinking everything was better than usual. Schuyler walked home, her purse hanging off her arm, wearing her hoodie and leather jacket as she walked closer to home. She walked past the parking lot, and heard something, so she raised all her senses, and without making a sound, she turned around, and saw some tall man with chestnut brown hair, and similar sharp cheekbones and sympathetic hazel eyes, like someone Schuyler knew in a past life.

"Ollie?" Schuyler whispered, she wasn't some fifteen year old girl like she was around Jack, she was six years old, she was eighteen, and she was twenty one, everything in between. She had been living her life with Oliver along her side all the time, like she had never left him, and he would never leave her. "Oliver Perry-Hazard." She breathed.

"It's nice to see you too Sky," he said with a smirk and they walked closer and ended up in each other's arms, for a long time, that Bella's bus came up and Schuyler had to quickly dry the tears beneath her eyes. "Everything 'kay?" Oliver asked Schuyler, his arms still wrapped around her, keeping her close.

"Yeah," Schuyler told him, and repeated it. "I want to introduce you to someone," she told him, taking hold of his hand and turning him around, where Bella and Jessica were walking towards them.

"Mom!" Bella squealed and ran into her mother's arms, causing Schuyler to lose Oliver's hand. "Oh, you will not believe what happened today!" She raved, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oliver, some strange man she's never seen before except in pictures, and continued on. "Me and Jess, well, we kept on messing with our art teacher, because her mom's a high school art teacher and everything and so we knew or Jess knew more about and so she kept on mouthing off and off –"

"Bella, I need to go," Jess said, and gave Bella a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "See you later," she said, out stretching her arm. "Bye, Sky."

"Bye," Schuyler said, waving towards her and then taking hold of Bella's hand and turning around for Oliver. "Isabella, this is my friend Oliver, from high school, the one I went to Italy with."

"My name's Italian," Bella said, looking up at Schuyler meaningfully and then sizing up Oliver, and he looked at her blue eyes, her mother's blue eyes, and was in pure shock. She looked so much like Jack, with the blond hair. She looked like a freaking Aryan, and that was the first thought that crossed Oliver's mind. Bella stretched out her other arm, giving Oliver her right hand.

Schuyler didn't feel right going out, but she didn't want to stay in either, so naturally, after Bella went to sleep, they went to a bar. They spent the day with her, making dinner, helping her with homework, charming her to death.

"She looks so much like Jack, I'm surprised you haven't killed yourself," Oliver told her, taking a gulp of his bear.

"Cant, remember?" Schuyler told him, raising her wrist. "I've been getting through it – one day at a time, but I think the way I really survived it all was finding something of you in her," she told him.

"Really? I don't see how," Oliver said, gulping down some more.

"Her hair is soft, in color, like yours, and the way she talks, like she's always smirking," Schuyler couldn't help but smile now. "How she stands, tall, back straight, sure of herself no matter what, free to be. The way she walks, with grace, it's not like Jack, its – softer. A more gentle approach."

Oliver placed one hand on her back, and kissed her head, thinking that was enough for the moment.

Of course it was.


End file.
